NAACP chapter president says group has been barred from Martin Luther King Jr. event

Even before Mayor Mitch Landrieu
took office in May 2010, he and local NAACP chapter President Danatus
King embarked on what has become a series of public clashes. The list of
skirmishes grew by one last week.

During's Landrieu's pre-mayoral
transition last year, King was among four community leaders who
resigned from a Landrieu-appointed task force to find a new police
chief. The four cited undue secrecy in the candidate selection process.

A
few months later, King vowed to keep a close eye on Landrieu to make
sure companies picked for bricks-and-mortar projects comply with city
laws that call for a significant portion of public contracts to go to
local and disadvantaged firms. Little has been heard of that oversight
effort, however.

Meanwhile, King frequently has called for Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas'
ouster, most recently over a controversy about the paperwork showing
the date Serpas took over the NOPD's top job. When the city's inspector
general cleared Serpas of any wrongdoing, King decried that decision,
too.

Then last week, King accused the Landrieu administration of
refusing to allow the local NAACP branch to join in a ceremony prior to a
city-sponsored march on Jan. 16 celebrating the life and legacy of the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"When you have an organization, the
largest and oldest civil rights organization -- an organization that
worked hand in hand with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King -- and they are
not only overlooked, but they are denied participation, it's not only
an insult, but a disrespect," King told WWL-TV.

The Rev. Norwood
Thompson, chairman of the MLK Celebration Commission, told the station
that King's request came too late for inclusion in this year's program
but that the NAACP will be considered for participation in the future.

A
Landrieu spokeswoman, meanwhile, said that "all organizations and
citizens are encouraged to participate in the MLK holiday celebration."